The Italian Renaissance: Science and Technology in Italy from the Dawn of Renaissance to the Advent of the Scientific Academies

This contribution presents an overview of the Renaissance in Italy, where it first appeared, and covers its prelude, rise, culmination and eventual decline. The influence it had on the university system is first presented, and then its achievements in science and technology are examined. The results of the top exponents in these fields are illustrated, including names such as Filippo Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci, Vesalius (a Flemish professor at Padua), Girolamo Cardano, Giovanni Battista Della Porta and Galileo Galilei, who eventually produced a major contribution which heralded the beginning of the scientific revolution. Attention is given to presenting how their knowledge was transmitted and how it spread from Italy to a large part of Europe, where it promoted further cultural progress and thus profoundly changed the whole continent and particularly its science and technology.